Conventionally, wrenches and similar hand tools have been made of iron, steel or some other metal, because of strength and durability requirements. Metal tools are manufactured using casting or forming procedures. The important disadvantage of metal tools is their cost, both from manufacturing and material standpoints. Moreover, metal tools are unsuitable for use in many applications, particularly when a shock hazard condition exists.
Hand tools have been proposed which include both metal and non-metallic substances, the non-metal substances generally forming the handles, or lower-stress receiving portions of the tool. Although this results in a reduced cost from a material standpoint, the presence of metal limits the use of the tool. Some hand tools have been proposed which are made entirely of a non-metallic material. However, such hand tools have found limited applications due to the strength requirements for the work-receiving portions of the hand tool. Accordingly, for the most part, the use of non-metallic in tools has been limited to low-torque wrenches and low-strength pliers, and the like, where high stress factors are not encountered in use.
There is a need for wrenches and other hand tools which are non-metallic and therefore, non-magnetic, non-conductive non-sparking. These wrenches should be made of low-cost materials, and which are inexpensive to manufacture, but yet have strength comparable to that of a metal tool of comparable size.
Ratchet wrenches with bodies or body components comprised of non-metallic materials are known in the art, and such tools have taken various forms and structural arrangements. In some of these tools, mechanical strength has been sacrificed or compromised to achieve weight reduction and to reduce production costs. In others, the option of plastic as a structural medium has not been without the sacrificing of durability and functional reliability. The recognized advantages inherent in the adoption of non-metals as a structural medium in the fabrication of tools such as ratchet wrenches notwithstanding, no completely satisfactory composite structure assembly has heretofore been devised.